With objective of speedup the development of manufacturing industries in Africa the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed partnership agreement.
The collaboration includes the establishment of staple crop processing zones in a select number of African countries. This was revealed in Busan, Korea on Monday where the two sides signed memorandum of understanding to jointly assist African countries on the overall agro-industry development.
The partnership also covers facilitation of the development of circular economy, eco-industrial parks, investment in innovation and technology, enterprise development, trade and capacity-building, and access to finance, among others.
“Achieving Africa’s industrial potential will not happen by chance; strong partnerships such as the one our two organizations have now formalized are key,” said Philippe Scholtès, Managing Director at UNIDO.
It is indicated that the agreement is in line with objectives set in the Bank’s High 5 strategy, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III), the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa.
“This partnership will create significant opportunities and facilitate our work together towards the operationalization of IDDA III (2016–2025)”.
Dr. Adesina on his part indicated that in 2016 AfDB has launched its Industrialization Strategy for Africa 2016-2025, in consultation with UNIDO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
“The Bank already benefits enormously from UNIDO’s expertise in developing policies, programs and knowledge tools which supports our member countries to industrialize.”
In 2017, AfDB allocated $1.2 billion to Industrialize Africa – one of the Bank’s High 5 development priorities – mostly to projects for financial sector operations.
At the signing ceremony it is indicated that the two sides have already initiated working level collaboration, including within the framework of UNIDO’s flagship Program for Country Partnership (PCP) model, which helps synchronize development efforts and mobilize resources to support countries in accelerating industrialization.
AfDB and UNIDO recently undertook a joint mission to Morocco as part of the initial development of the PCP and will continue exploring cooperation opportunities in the ongoing PCPs in Senegal and Ethiopia.